London, UK: A recent news article mentioned that a team of international researchers namely, Guy Goodwin, a professor of psychiatry at Oxford University in England, other researchers in Britain, Japan and the United States has concluded that long-term use of antidepressants could prevent depressed patients from suffering a relapse. Recent statistics in this area state that depression affects about 10 percent of women and five percent of men sometime during their lives. Patients are normally treated with drugs for about four to six months to relieve the symptoms of the illness. However, the recent research claims that extending treatment with all types of antidepressants for a year or more will provide assistance.

    "If you continue treatment for one, two or even three years you continue to have benefits. They don't wear off and for people at risk of recurrent illnesses, it means they can probably afford to go on taking them for those periods of time and possibly longer," mentioned Professor Goodwin. "We think they (the drugs) allow people to recover. We think they work at quite a cognitive level. They change the biases that exist in the brain to see the bad in things versus the good," he added. However, he also mentioned that many patients have a risk of recurrence after completing treatment.

    The news quoted recent statistics that depression affects nearly 19 million Americans, and millions more people worldwide in any given year. It also mentioned that although the illness can be treated, most people do not seek remedies, which range from psychotherapy to antidepressants and the herbal therapy St. John's Wort.

    It was also explained that antidepressants relieve symptoms, such as sadness, lack of concentration, and loss of pleasure and interest in life. However, it also mentioned that some antidepressants could cause queasiness and a delay in sexual response.